In Newly Found Audio, A Forgotten Civil Rights Leader Says Coming Out 'Was An Absolute Necessity'
Bayard Rustin was an adviser to Martin Luther King Jr. and the organizer behind the 1963 March on Washington. And though he was gay, his legacy remains little known among many in the LGBTQ community.
He was an adviser to Martin Luther King Jr. and the organizer behind the 1963 March on Washington.
Still, Bayard Rustin's legacy as a leading figure in the civil rights movement is little known today, even among many history buffs and within the LGBTQ community. His homosexuality cost him that visibility and was considered by some as a hindrance to the movement's success.
Rustin died in 1987, but his silenced voice from an interview with the in the mid-1980s. The audio will air this week in an episode of the podcast It was discovered by Sara Burningham, the podcast's executive producer.
